Barbie in A Mermaid Tale
Barbie in A Mermaid Tale is the 17th Barbie film and the first entry in the Mermaid Tale Series released on March 9, 2010. The film follows the story of Princess Merliah, a half-human and half-mermaid who tries to rescue her mother and her under water kingdom. Official Description "Barbie stars as Merliah, a surfing champion from Malibu. One minute she's a normal teenager and the next she learns a shocking family secret: she's a mermaid! Merliah and her dolphin friend Zuma set off on an undersea adventure to rescue her mother, the queen of Oceana. With help from her new mermaid friends, Merliah saves the ocean kingdom. In the end, she discovers that what makes you different could be your greatest strength." Plot Merliah Summers is a champion surfer who lives in Malibu. She is nicknamed the "Queen of the Waves", and her friends, Hadley and Fallon, even make a song for her. One day, during a surfing competition, suddenly there's pink highlights on her hair while she is surfing. Seeing this, she dives underwater and realises that she can breathe and talk underwater. A talking dolphin named Zuma has a conversation with Merliah, and then takes her back to her friends. Merliah is shocked but chooses not to believe it. Merliah tells her friends what happened and then goes home in deep thought. Her grandfather, Break, who takes care of Merliah, reveales to her that she is actually half-human half mermaid; her father Rip married a mermaid named Calissa , and had Merliah. However, Merliah would be unsafe living among mermaids, because she was born with a human appearance. Break agreed to take care of her, so her mother gave Merliah to him when she was a baby. Merliah doesn't believe him and leaves to talk to her friends about this. Zuma the dolphin finds Merliah with her friends again, confirming that everything Break said was true. She tells her that the mermaid kingdom, Oceana, ruled by Merliah's mother is in danger. Merliah's evil aunt, Eris , had taken her throne. Merliah becomes angry because she doesn't understand what was going on, and throws a necklace she'd been wearing, on the floor. The necklace had been given to her when she was a baby, and it played a message when she threw it. It revealed that Calissa was alive and needed help and that Merliah was half mermaid. It also said Calissa was making Merillia, the magical life force of the ocean. Merliah goes with Zuma to help her mother. They arrive in the underwater kingdom, and find that a festival held by Eris is happening. Zuma tells Merliah that Eris' Merillia was not as powerful as Calissa's, and it was making the ocean weak. Zuma and Merliah enter a fashion boutique to get her a fake tail as a disguise as they witness the festival. They see Eris make whirlpools that were impossible to escape from, and take merpeople to her dungeons. This makes Merliah unsure if she can save Oceana, and the boutique owners find out that she is hiding when their pet seal, Snouts , tickles Merliah's toes. The owners are Kayla and Xylie , two stylish mermaids, who give Merliah a fake tail to swim around so she will fit in. Kayla and Xylie want to help Merliah and Zuma, so they go to see The Destinies. They are mermaids who can see the future. They hear Eris saying she will destroy Merliah, so Kayla and Xylie sidetrack her, and they go on to meet the Destinies. The Destinies — Dee, Deandra and Deanne — tell Merliah exactly what she needs to defeat Eris: The Celestial Comb, Dreamfish, and Eris' necklace, which protects her. Merliah talks to Fallon and Hadley with a device and they find out where the Celestial Comb is: in a cave guarded by large jellyfish. Zuma, Kayla and Xylie try to distract the jellyfish while Merliah and Snouts get the comb. They get it and escape before the cave collapses. Merliah contacts Fallon and Hadley again, and they locate the Dreamfish. It is in the Adenato currents. They get the Dreamfish and then, to get Eris' necklace, Merliah, Kayla and Xylie sing a song Queen of the Waves (but with different lyrics) to her in a festival to distract her. Eris becomes angry and makes a whirlpool to get rid of Merliah, and Merliah gets sucked in. Merliah asks the Dreamfish for help, and it offers to let her go home and pretend nothing ever happened. Merliah refuses and magically gets a real mermaid tail to replace her fake one. She escapes the whirlpool with her new, strong tail and takes Eris' necklace. Calissa makes more Merillia, and Merliah finds out that Eris couldn't defeat Calissa because Eris is unable to make any Merillia. Eris chases after Merliah and Eris ends up caught in one of her own whirlpools. She is taken to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean. Merliah frees Calissa and Calissa cures the ocean with her Merillia. She also gives her daughter a necklace that will let her be human again, as well as a mermaid whenever she wishes. Merliah goes back to Malibu and wins a surfing trophy. Later, Calissa meets Break, Hadley and Fallon. Starring The Voices Of *Merliah: Kelly Sheridan *Eris: Kathleen Barr *Zuma: Tabitha St. Germain *Surf Announcer: Peter Mel *Fallon: Nakia Burrise *Hadley: Maryke Hendrikse *Kayla: Emma Pierson *Xylie: Ciara Janson *Break: Garry Chalk *Remo: Alistair Abell *Snouts: Kathleen Barr *Dee: Andrea Libman *Deandra: Shannon Chan-Kent *Deanne: Tabitha St. Germain *Dreamfish: Alex Ferris *Lipstick Fish: Ellen Kennedy *Pufferazzi: Alistair Abell *Syrenka: Ellen Kennedy *Syrenka's Pet Fish: Scott McNeil Gallery Development The original plot was as follows: "When Marisa, played by Barbie, discovers she is half-mermaid, she must help the citizens of Atlantia by rescuing their queen--her mother. Marisa and her underwater friends have to complete three tasks in order to release her mother from the clutches of the evil Eris, who longs to rule Atlantia."Original plot DVD Barbie in A Mermaid Tale was initially released on DVD on March 2, 2010 with a Wide Screen Enhanced (16x9) format. Set Up *Spoken Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0, Français Dolby Digital 2.0, and Español Dolby Digital 2.0 *Subtitles: English SDH (subtitled for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) On / Off Scene Selection The scene selection feature is called "My Favorite Scenes" on the DVD. #Summer Sunshine 3:21 #Queen of the Waves 4:11 #The Truth from Break 3:58 #A Sparkly New Friend 4:29 #Welcome to Oceana 4:15 #The Eris Festival 5:31 #Tail Makeover! 2:05 #House of Fate 5:27 #Help from Above 2:25 #A Sisterly Chat 3:31 #Quest for the Comb 4:55 #In Search of Dreamfish 2:22 #Shredding the Current 3:27 #Rocking the Reef :35 #A Tail of Her Own 5:45 #Princess of Oceana 6:06 #Queen Calissa Reigns 2:32 #Together at Last 3:20 Extra Features The extra features are called "More Mermaid Fun" on the DVD. Bloopers *When Merliah throws her necklace, Zuma has a dialogue to say to Merliah which she can't pronounce properly and the director says "Cut". *When Merliah is modeling and trying out her tail, it rips because maybe it was a little too tight. *When Xylie and Kayla are having manicures a shark is having a mainicure too. So when everyone is looking at him, he replies "What?". *Calissa and Merliah are playing cards. Calissa asks for any threes but Merliah says "Nope, Go Human" (It's a reference to "Go Fish"). *Zuma and Snouts try on some accesories. Zuma says "Snouts and I are stepping out" but Zuma hits herself through a wall. *Zuma blows a whistle then says "Training them was easier than you think." Then one of the mermaids splash water on her. *Merliah trips when modeling the same dress. *When Remo trys blowing his horn 3 times the Lipstick Fish comes out from the horn then the cast laughs. *"Queen of the Waves" Music Video *I Can Be... A Professional Surfer *Trailer Gallery (Sing Along With Barbie trailer, Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale teaser trailer, and The Barbie Movie Collection trailer) Soundtrack Trivia * This is the last Barbie film/movie starting with Mattel Entertainment and the first featuring different animation technology interface. * Barbie in A Mermaid Tale was the top-selling Barbie movie in 2010. It was the first Barbie film/movie released in the spring that outsold the one released in the fall (Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale). *The film's title "A Mermaid Tale" is a description of a mermaid's story. *There are puns on store names in Oceana: Bloomingtails, a pun on Bloomingdales; Seaphora, a pun on Sephora; and Fred Seagull, a pun on Fred Segal. *Zuma's name is from Zuma Beach in Malibu, and Zuma, the popular game from GameHouse in computer. *Syrenka's name means mermaid in Polish. *The Polish title of the film/movie translates as "Barbie and the Underwater Mystery". *The film was released in the USA on Barbie's 51st birthday. *The tails of the mermaids are the same color as the streaks on their hair. *The surfer before Merliah in the beginning has red hair and wears a purple top with green shorts. This may be a reference to the mermaid Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Similarities with other Barbie films/movies ''A Fashion Fairytale *Barbie has a ''Mermaid Tale poster in her trailer gallery. ''A Fairy Secret *Barbie and Raquelle use fake wings in Gloss Angeles, and Merliah uses a fake tail in Oceana. **Gloss Angeles is shown as a modern city inhabited by mythical creatures, as is Oceana. *The main protagonist's hair has pink strands after transformation. Princess Charm School *In the film's bloopers, there is a parody of ''Mermaid Tale when Blair, Hadley and Isla surf. Goofs *When Merliah puts her clothes on the rock before jumps into the water, her clothes are slowly sinking into the rock. *Merliah's streaks fade from bright pink, to pastel pink. *When Merliah gets her real tail, the streaks in her hair are almost unseen. *When Merliah pulls the Celestial Comb out, she is seen wearing her swimsuit and her necklace that her mother gave to her before she had to leave. Also Known As *Spanish - Barbie en Una aventura de sirenas *French - Barbie et le Secret des Sirènes *Italian -'' Barbie e l'Avventura nell'Oceano'' *German - Barbie und das Geheimnis von Oceana *Croatian - Barbie u Priči O Sireni *Albanian - Barbie një Histori Sirenash *Polish - Barbie i Podwodna Tajemnica *Czech - Barbie Příběh mořské panny *Hungarian - Barbie és a Sellőkaland *Portuguese - Barbie em Vida de Sereia *Dutch - Barbie in een Zeemeerminavontuur *Finnish - Barbie ja Merenneidon ta *Persian - باربى در افسانه پرى دريايى *Hindi -'' बार्बी : एक जलपरी की कहानी'' *Hebrew - ברבי בת הים References Category:Barbie in A Mermaid Tale Category:Movies Category:Rainmaker Studios